


the tribute who talks to himself

by Mister_Fox



Category: Bleach, Hunger Games Series - All Media Types
Genre: Age Swap, Alternate Universe - Hunger Games Setting, Gen, Ghosts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:40:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24539389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mister_Fox/pseuds/Mister_Fox
Summary: "I sure hope there's no cameras around," Ichigo says, and sits down on the floor next to him with a sigh.It's not like the Capitol will really care if a tribute is delusional, just as long as he doesn’t do this in public, but he’s got to start the conversation somehow.“So, do you have any tips on surviving the games?” Ichigo looks directly at Urahara.There’s silence. Ichigo sighs, concentrates, and carefully pokes him in the arm.Urahara jumps, scrambling in place, and then looks up at Ichigo, eyes wide.“You can touch- you can see me? You can see ghosts?”UraIchi Week 2020 - Day 2, Age Swap
Relationships: Kurosaki Ichigo & Urahara Kisuke
Comments: 11
Kudos: 210
Collections: UraIchi Week 2020





	the tribute who talks to himself

"And the male tribute is... Kurosaki Ichigo!"

Ichigo feels like a bucket of icy water was dumped all over him. Yuzu and Karin gasp, and grab at him, holding him close, as everyone else steps back.

Peacekeepers approach, and he makes his sisters let go. They can't get attention, can't provoke violence.

He walks, numbly, to the stage, and doesn't listen, doesn't pay attention to the rest of the proceedings, eyes fixed on his sisters in the crows. Yuzu is crying, and Karin is standing next to her, trying to look strong.

He thought, three more years, and he’d be out of the pool, at least, and just have to worry about his sisters.

His sisters.

Well, at least it’s not them out here.

He- How the hell does he stand a chance of winning the games to come back to them, when the only Victor from their district had died two years ago, when there’s no mentor for them, no one to help with _anything_?

"I'm so sorry," he hears a faint whisper from nearby, and discreetly looks around.

Urahara Kisuke, the victor of the fourth Quarter Quell is standing nearby, faded and translucent, and Ichigo wishes he didn't have to look sane so he could _punch_ him for being dead.

* * *

The next time Ichigo sees the ghost is on the train, curled up on the floor of a storage carriage, where his anchor is probably located. Hm, Ichigo bets it’s the tribute's token that he’s bound to in death, unable to go on until either his unfinished business is resolved, or the token is destroyed.

He hasn't aged a day since he died two years ago, of course. Ichigo's never seen him in person, only on screens during all the interviews, and then in the background, desperately trying to mentor new tributes every year.

He’s.. smaller than Ichigo expected, his size something that hadn’t come across very much during all the interviews and cameras.

On purpose, of course.

The Capitol wasn’t quite sure what to do with the Quarter Quell that expanded the age range to be seven to nineteen, and doubled the number of participants- or, rather, how to present some of the tiny tributes in a way that wouldn’t actually make the Capitol genuinely upset at watching tiny kids die.

And then, how to present their eight-year-old Victor, who lived sheerly because he escaped every disaster the arena threw at him. Unlike the other Tributes.

Urgh, it’s impossible to actually be angry at a dead thirteen-year-old, who is smaller than either of Ichigo’s sisters, for being _too dead_ to be a proper mentor.

"I sure hope there's no cameras around," Ichigo says, and sits down on the floor next to him with a sigh.

It's not like the Capitol will really care if a tribute is delusional, just as long as he doesn’t do this in public, but he’s got to start the conversation somehow.

“So, do you have any tips on surviving the games?” Ichigo looks directly at Urahara.

There’s silence. Ichigo sighs, concentrates, and carefully pokes him in the arm.

Urahara jumps, scrambling in place, and then looks up at Ichigo, eyes wide.

“You can touch- you can _see_ me? You can see ghosts?” He looks- Ichigo can’t quite tell if it’s excited or terrified.

“Yeah.”

“I am so sorry I can’t help you, I, I-” The kid bursts into tears.

Ooops?

* * *

It takes a while for Urahara to compose himself, Ichigo awkwardly patting him on his back.

“I was lucky,” Urahara eventually manages to whisper. “I was… lucky, that the arena was a ruin, because I was just… good at repurposing things, at making little devices that would help me out of nothing. I was lucky that Yoruichi-san helped me, that she- that she died for me.”

Yeah, Ichigo remembers that bit, the sob-story the Capitol made of it. The older girl from a Career district, that saw her little brother in Urahara, helped him, until she died taking down the other Tributes from her own district.

“I, I tried to help the Tributes after me, but I don’t know, I don’t know how to train you,” he continues. “And- last time, I tried to hack the systems, the arena, I _managed it_ , I nearly got them to the end.”

...That suddenly explains a great deal of how the last tributes Urahara mentored got so close to the end of the game.

“But they realised what I was doing, and… they killed the tributes, first. Sent them into traps that they couldn’t escape without my meddling.” Urahara sounds almost calm, now. Or maybe more vacant.

Ichigo can see where this is going, and gives some more pats.

“They couldn’t let it slip out that there are gaps in the security, couldn’t let it be known what I did, even if I didn’t really have anyone I could tell about them, and I had no family to threaten. So they… they made the murder look like a suicide.”

A thirteen-year-old not being able to watch another set of people die because he wasn’t good enough to help them _is_ believable.

“And now there is nothing I can do any more, just watch the games every year, and it is… my fault that there is no one to help the tributes, to help you.”

“It’s not your fault,” Ichigo says, because he isn’t sure what else there is to say other than the truth. He might not be happy that he has to figure out on his own how to win this bullshit and get back to his family, to Yuzu and Karin, but… he’ll do it. Somehow.

“But-” Urahara tries to argue, looking upset again.

“You did what you could, short of trying to follow them into the arena, or something, and killing off all the other tributes yourself.” The mentors are pretty limited in what they can do before the games, and honestly, it’s not like their district ever has a real chance, with weak, underfed Tributes who never have the advantage of any training or combat-useful skills.

For a moment, there is silence.

Then there’s a sudden change in Urahara’s expression, a sly glint in his eye that reminds Ichigo that he _had_ managed to survive a good portion of his Game on wits alone.

“...How well can you act? Or lie?”

The non-sequitur throws Ichigo for a moment.

“Er, a little bit, I guess? Why?”

Urahara looks like he’s thinking hard now.

“You need to convince them to let you take my token into the arena.”

“Why?”

“What you said about going into the arena. I can’t deal with the Tributes for you, I can not affect the physical world like that-

“But if you look at statistics, you will find that an early warning system and someone to keep watch at night will be _invaluable,_ and there is much that I know about what can be foraged in the woods, and how to make traps.”

Oh. Oh that could be _pretty damn useful_.

“We need to decide on a strategy to sell them on the idea of giving you the token.”

Ichigo snorts.

“How about ‘I hope the Victor’s spirit will watch over me and guide me through the arena’?”

Urahara’s laugh is adorable.

(It’s not _fair_ that he’s dead. But Ichigo doesn’t know what he can do about it.)

(If he could, Ichigo’d burn down the whole Capitol for every dead tribute.)

**Author's Note:**

> someone is a little late with a fic. oh well.
> 
> Ichigo proceeds to win the Games, accidentally sets off a rebellion in Kisuke's name, burns down the capitol, and helps Kisuke's ghost move on (despite falling in love), all in the space of like 1.5 years.  
> Kid's Efficient.
> 
> I may make more snippets for this verse, who knows.
> 
> Comments and kudos feed me for sure tho.
> 
> Here's a link to [Cywscross' UraIchi Discord Server](https://discordapp.com/invite/ADFnKTZ#_=_)!


End file.
